Study: Development Banks Financing HPP Projects at Protected Sites in Balkans

14 December 2015, Energetika-Net

A wave of hydropower development fuelled by European public funding and EU companies is endangering pristine river environments in the Balkans, finds a new study released last Friday by the Central and Eastern European (CEE) Bankwatch Network. The extensive analysis shows that multilateral development banks, such as the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD), the European Investment Bank (EIB), and the World Bank’s International Finance Corporation (IFC), which have extended loans totalling EUR 818 million to no less than 75 hydropower projects, including 30 directly affecting protected areas including national parks, Natura 2,000 sites, and Ramsar sites, are playing a key role in this regard.
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